JIM JEFFERIES has urged the SPL not to punish the Hearts players by hitting the club with a points deduction over delayed payment of wages.

Following delays in delivery of player salaries in each of the last three months, Hearts face the prospect of unlimited sanctions should they fail to meet the SPL's demands and pay wages on schedule today.

Hearts have until midnight tonight to make the payment, with disciplinary action triggered if they miss the deadline.

Points deductions, fines and a transfer embargo are among the many possible punishments, but Jefferies - replaced by Paulo Sergio as manager at Tynecastle in August - hopes the players' efforts to help Hearts to third in the league are not in vain.

"I don't think deducting points is something they should do, because these players have worked hard to get the points," said ex-Jamobs boss Jefferies, who was speaking at a Tesco Bank Football Challenge event at Longstone Primary School in Edinburgh.

"They've showed when they've crossed the line they have not let it affect them.

"You'd be punishing the players, as well as the club, if you start deducting them points."

Hearts' turmoil off the field has not been replicated on it.

Since the first-team squad instructed players' union PFA Scotland to make a formal complaint on December 16, Hearts have won five in their recent six-match unbeaten run.

Jefferies said: "It's fantastic. I think everybody on the playing side of the club deserves credit for holding it together.

"The manager and the staff deserve a lot of credit.

"Probably in a way it's a bit of an escape - getting on the pitch and performing. It's galvanised the players and the supporters to pull together."

Midfielder Ryan Stevenson, who was Jefferies' first signing as Hearts boss in January 2010, has not been part of the recent run, opting instead to take self-imposed leave over continual frustrations over wage delays.

"It's a personal matter for Ryan. Ryan took a stance and that's his choice," Jefferies added.

"Paulo Sergio's been very sympathetic towards that."

Stevenson's contract expires at the end of the season and a move elsewhere has been mooted during the current transfer window.

Further departures are also likely to reduce the financial strain on the club.

Jefferies, meanwhile, is waiting for his opportunity to return to management.

The 61-year-old former Bradford and Kilmarnock boss said: "It's nice to have a decent rest and hopefully an opportunity comes up and I'll go into it nice and refreshed."